Get attached to your veggies: Eat local

Before 4-year-old Sam Guy eats a carrot, he'll ask his mom, "Is this Nash's carrot?" referring to Sequim farmer Nash Huber.

Alicia Guy says of her kids, Sam and 6-year-old Penelope, "I hope I'm not turning them into produce snobs, but they want to know which farmer grew it, and I think that's pretty exciting."

Like more and more people, Alicia Guy, a chef instructor for PCC Cooks, involves her family, including husband George, in many "eat local" methods, such as shopping farmers markets, growing some vegetables and even raising chickens at their Shoreline home.

Many other people are also picking up on the eating-local movement to cut down on the fuel used for transporting food, to support the local economy and to be more assured of food safety.

There are several ways to expand your family's ag-savviness, and the perfect timing is now with the start of spring. Farmers markets are cropping up again, or sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription, which buys you a delivered box a week of just-picked produce. At your local food store, request local vegetables, or grow your own.

"I love pulling up the carrots," Penelope Guy said of her family's garden. "It's my favorite vegetable to eat." This young gardener's tastes have evolved. "Before I hated carrots, but now I love them."

Walking the market

A weekly trip to one of the area's many farmers markets — this year there will be close to 40 in King County alone (see box for Web sites) — will instantly boost a family's eat-local strategy and provide a fun outing.

"The farmers at the market are providing recipes, they're providing samples and they're providing a little bit of dirt on the carrots, which is important for kids to see what food looks like when it comes out of the ground," says Chris Curtis, executive director of the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance.

Samples, especially of carrots, peas or fruit, are the edible keys for small hands to grab that just may unlock a child's interest — or even open the door to a party.

"I saw a kid, 8 or 9, who fashioned her birthday party around the farmers market," Curtis recalls. "The children went together to pick out the berries, and collectively bought the fruit and took it back to her house for the party."

Letting kids purchase produce enhances the experience, Guy said.

"Give each child one thing they're going to pick, and sort of make a big deal about it," she said. "They help prep it at home; they decide what kind of dish it's going to be in."

Luke Woodward of Oxbow Farm, who sells at the Ballard, Madrona and Queen Anne markets, says many kids who frequent the markets are all business.

"They know what they want, and they don't want all the song and dance like adults do, like talking to the farmer," he said.

Try a produce subscription

Don't care to hit a farmers market each week? Try a CSA subscription, typically sold in the spring and covering our major growing seasons. Each week a farmer packs a box with fresh produce, and it is delivered to your door or pickup point. A family may find new and unusual veggies.

"We put out a newsletter each week, give recipes, and talk about new things that are in the box," Woodward said. "It's a process of learning to cook what you get, and being open to it."

Guy said with a CSA subscription, you're forced to get creative with your menu — "like an Iron Chef thing."

"But the flip side is," she said, "if there are things in there the rest of the family doesn't like, well, that's a lot of winter squash for me to eat."

Grow your own

Gardening offers another lesson for kids.

"It makes them so much more likely to eat it if they planted the seeds, watered, weeded and really do all of it," Guy said.

She advises starting small, with peas, radishes, beans and carrots.

Guy said her daughter, Penelope, loves planting peas and is quickly becoming an "urban farmer," too.

"She has her boots, and she's especially involved with the chickens," she said, referring to their egg-laying hens.

Seek a savvy store

Look for local produce in your food store. The natural grocery chain PCC labels "Local" and the farm name on local produce, and some other markets do, too. If it's not labeled, Guy suggests you ask.

"The more the retailer is paying attention, the more emphasis is going to be placed on local agriculture," she said.

Bill Thorness is a freelance garden writer in Seattle: bill@thorness.com.